1. Lesson Three Pub Talk and the King's English

2. Aims 1. To trace the history of Britain and the history of the English 2. To learn the differences between pub talk and the King ’ s English 3. To know how to make good conversation 4. To analyse the features of spoken English 5. To appreciate the language features and the rhetorical devices

3. Background information  pub (public house)  ----the centre of social life for a large number of people  1) to offer a wide variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks  2) to provide hot and cold food

4.  3) to serve as places for meeting friends and for entertainment  4) to provide TV, facilities for playing darts, billiards, dominoes, etc.

9. Pub talk  the greeting ritual  pub argument

10. Pub argument  ---thou shalt not take things too seriously  free association  pub humor

11. Washington Post  ---the Kennedy family  ---the Morgan family

12. Henry Fairlie (1924--)  Editor of The New Republic  ----The Kennedy Promise: The Politics of Expectation  ----The Parties: Republicans and Democrats in This Century  ----The Seven Deadly Sins Today  ----The Spoiled Child of the Western World: The Miscarriage of the American Idea in Our Time

14. The History of Britain  1.The native people in Britain  ----Celts  --- Celt (language)  2. Roman Occupation (55BC — 410), ruled for 400 years  Latin (language)

15. The History of Britain  3. (410-871) Angles, Saxon, and Jutes from Northwest of Germany, conquered the most part of England  English --- old English

16. Four major dialects of Old English  Northumbrian  Mercian  West Saxon  Kentish  the north of England  the midlands  the south and west  the southeast

17. The History of Britain  4. 9th century, Scandinavian conquest ---- Danish (language)  5. 11th century Norman Conquest for 400 years  -----French (language)

18.  beef  cow  indict  jury  verdict

19.  6. British people conquered the conquest again. English won its recognition.  Early Modern English ----(1500-1800)  late Modern English----( 1800-present) 1)the Industrial Revolution/ the rise of the technological society 2)British Empire

20.  oxygen protein nuclear  hard-drive microchip byte  shampoo pajamas  blockbuster nose dive radar

21.  U.S. 230 million  U.K. 60 million  Canada 20 million  Australia 15 million  Ireland/New Zealand/South Africa 3 million

22. Writing style  ---a piece of exposition  What is king ’ s English?  ---standard English  What is pub talk?  ---conversation held in the public house

23.  “ Conversation is the most sociable of all human activities”.

24.  “ bar conversation in the pub has a charm of its own. ”  ---king ’ s English

25.  The real thesis---  “bar conversation has a charm of its own.”  A better title would be:  ---“The Art of Good Conversation”  ---“The Charms of Conversation”

26. Organizational pattern  Section 1 (1-3)  1. Conversation is the most sociable of all human activities.  2. Bar conversation has a charm of its own.

27.  Section 2 (4-11)  an example to support the thesis  no fixed topic

28.  Section 3 (12-19)  what the writer thought about King ’ s English after the bar conversation the night before  Para.12-15 ---personal reflection on the history and meaning of the King's English  Para.16-19 ---attitude towards the King's English

29.  Sect. 4 (Para. 20 — 21)  conclusion

30.  According to the writer, what makes a good conversation? What spoils it?  Why does the writer like “bar conversation” so much?  Does a good conversation need a focal subject to talk about?

31. Detailed study of the text  Pub talk and the King ’ s English---  interesting pub talk which centered around the meaning of the phrase, “ the King ’ s English ”

32. Conversation is the most sociable of all human activities ---friendly or agreeable, especially in an easy, informal way

33. And it is an activity only of human …  -- And conversation is an activity which is found only among human beings.

34.  “However intricate the ways in which animals communicate with each other, they do not indulge in anything that deserves the name of conversation.”  ---enjoy, satisfy  --- to have a right to be called, be worthy of the name of

35.  What makes a good conversation?  What spoils it?

36. What makes a good conversation?  Anything can start a conversation.  Conversation is not for making a point.  There is no winning in conversation.

37. What spoils it?  ---people who think they have a lot of important things to say  ---people who argue to convince or try to be a winner in a conversation

38.  “The charm of conversation is that it does not really start from anywhere, and no one has any idea where it will go as it meanders or leaps and sparkles or just glows.” (mixed metaphor)

39.  ---( like a stream) to flow placidly and aimlessly or to flow swiftly and joyously onwards  ---(like fire) to burn steadily without flame or to burn brightly throwing off sparks

40. mixed metaphor  meander/sparkle-----smooth/ peaceful  leap/glow---exciting/heated

41.  “The enemy of good conversation is the person who has "something to say."  ---anything injurious or harmful

42. Conversation is not for making a point.  ---prove effectively truth of one’s statement by argument or in some other way  This is the first point I want to make.  In this case he made a point.  Since he could produce first-hand evidence, he was able to make his point.  In the last 20 seconds of the game, team A made a point and won.

43.  Conversation is not for persuading others to accept our idea or point of view. In a conversation we should not try to establish the force of an idea or argument.

44.  “In fact, the best conversationalists are those who are prepared to lose.”  In fact a person who really enjoys and is skilled at conversation will not argue to win or force others to accept his point of view.

45. in a flash --- in a second  Everything happened in a flash.  a flash in a pan

46.  “Perhaps it is because of my up-bringing in English pubs that I think bar conversation has a charm of its own.”  ---the training and education received while growing up.

47. Of one’s own  ---to belong strictly to it (to bar conversation) ， specially belong to it  She has a mind of her own.  由于某些个人理由，他拒绝参加那个俱 乐部。  For reasons of his own, he refused to join the club.

48. Bar friends are not deeply involved in each other's lives.  People who meet each other for a drink in the bar or a pub are not intimate friends for they are not deeply absorbed or engrossed in each other’s lives.

49.  “The fact that their marriages may be on the rooks, or that their love affairs have been broken or even that they got out of bed on the wrong side is simply not a concern.”  --- wrecked or ruined  Mr Jone’s business was on the rocks.

50. On the rocks  ---with ice only  Sally ordered an orange juice on the rocks.  ---(metaphor)  Marriage is compared to a ship wrecked on the rocks

51. To be on the rocks  等我付完了所有的欠帐, 我就身无分文了。  By the time I've paid all the bills I owe I shall be on the rocks.  他们的婚姻触礁好几个月了, 已经濒于破 裂。  Their marriage has been on the rocks for a couple of months.

52.  Get out of bed on the wrong side  Get up on the wrong side of the bed  You got out of the bed the wrong way.  ---in a bad temper for the day

53.  Go back to bed and get up on the right side.

54. To get out of bed on the wrong side  今天他准是情绪不佳, 办公室里的每 一个人他都训斥了.  He must have got out of bed on the wrong side today, because He has shouted at everybody in the office.

55. Ancient superstition  --- “step on a spider,….it is sure to rain  ---the number 13  ---Friday, the 13th

56.  “They are like the musketeers of Dumas who, although they lived side by side with each other, did not delve into each other's lives or the recesses of their thoughts and feelings.” (simile, metaphor)

57. Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)  ---Dumas Pere ( French novelist and dramatist).  The Three Musketeers (1844)  Count of Monte Cristo (1845)

58. delve – (metaphor)  ---dig with a spade  ---reasearch, investigate for information  delve into book  delve into the past

59. Para 3  the real thesis ---  Bar conversation has a charm of its own

60. a) colloquial expression  on the rocks  get out of bed on the wrong side b) literary allusion

61.  “It was on such an occasion the other evening, as the conversation moved desultorily here and there, from the most commonplace to thoughts of Jupiter, without any focus and with no need for one, that suddenly the alchemy of conversation took place, and all at once there was a focus.”  ---- aimless, half-hearted

62. desultory  desultory research  a desultory walk  a desultory conversation

63. alchemy ---(figuratively) the seemingly miraculous change of a thing into something better

64. The glow of the conversation burst into flames.  ---(metaphor)  conversation ----- a fire

65. It could still go ignorantly on.  ignorant  illiterate  uneducated  unlearned  The conversation could go on without anyone knowing who was right or wrong.

66.  “It was an Australian who had given her such a definition of "the King's English," which produced some rather tart remarks about what one could expect from the descendants of convicts.”  ---sharp, cutting remarks

67. convict  ---a person who has been found guilty of a crime and sent to prison esp. for a long time  an escaped convict  an ex-convict

68.  “Look at the language barrier between the Saxon churls and their Norman conquerors.”  barrier  obstacle  difficulty

69. churl -- (old use) a person of low birth, esp. a peasant

70.  “The conversation had swung from Australian convicts of the 19th century to the English peasants of the 12th century.”  ---(cause to) change to a large degree  She swung from happiness to tears.  The value of the dollar swung downwards.

71. The conversation was on wings. (metaphor)  conversation----bird flying and soaring  ---as if flying  The superman walks on wings.  ---spiritedly, excitedly  He went home on wings.

72. Para 8  Why did the people talk about Australia?  Why did the conversation turn to Norman England?

73. They are cattle in the fields, but we sit down to beef (boeuf).  These animals are called cattle when they are alive and feeding in the fields; but when we sit down at the table to eat, we call their meat beef. The word “beef” comes from the French word “boeuf”.

74.  “Even if our menus were not written in French out of snobbery, the English we used in them would still be Norman English.”  --- in order to show their superior taste in matter of food.  ---words and phrases introduced into the English language by the Norman rulers

75.  “What all this tells us is of a deep class rift in the culture of England after the Norman conquest.”  ---1)a crack, narrow opening made by breaking  The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds  --- 2). (fig) division  The rift between them has not yet been completely healed.

76. How does the use of words show class distinction?  pig pork  cattle beef  chicken poultry  calf veal

77. the Norman lords of course turned up their noses at it.  ---show contempt for  I wish my child wouldn’t turn up his nose at vegetables.  你们不应该互相看不起，而应该看到彼 此的优点。  You should not turn up your noses at each other,but should try to see each other's good points.

78.  “ Turn left at the next corner and then follow your nose----you can’t miss it.”  “ You say you’re looking for the French Bakery? Just walk two blocks north, turn left, and you can smell that wonderful smell of fresh bread baking: just follow your nose and it will bring you right to the front door.

79.  “ My brother Bob borrowed the money to open his restaurant five years ago when the interest rate was so high, so he’s been paying through the nose ever since.”  “ Life is funny. When the famous Dutch painter Vincent Gogh was alive, nobody wanted to buy his pictures. But now rich people will pay through the nose for one, sometimes more than five millions dollars.”

80.  “ see, they were right under your nose the entire time.”  “ Did you read in the paper how bold that robber was at the art museum? He cut three paintings from their frames and walked out with them right under the guards’ noses.”

81.  “As we listen today to the arguments about bilingual education, we ought to think ourselves back into the shoes of the Saxon peasant.”  --- --- meaning double, two, appearing twice  bimonthly  biannual

82. into the shoes of ---(metaphor)  --- to think as if one were wearing the shoes of the Saxon peasant, as if one were a Saxon peasant  ---to be in another ’ s shoes ( to be in another ’ s position)  I ’ m glad I ’ m not in his shoe just now.

83.  “The new ruling class had built a cultural barrier against him by building their French against his own language.”  The new ruling class by using French instead of English made it difficult for the English to accept or absorb the culture of the rulers.

84.  revolt  rebel

85.  皇帝：崩、山陵崩、驾崩、晏驾；  诸侯：薨；  大夫：卒  士：不禄；  老百姓：死、填沟壑、见阎王。

86.  天子：后；  诸侯：夫人；  大夫：孺人；  士：妇人；  老百姓：妻

87.  Newes -- archaic spelling  Strange News of the Intercepting Certain Letters  thou clipst the King's English ------ middle English

88. here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the King's English," and it rings true.  1) take unfair or undue advantage of (one’s patience)  2) improper or incorrect use of language (the King’s English)

89.  “After five centuries of growth, of tussling with the French of the Normans and the Angevins and the Plantagenets and at last absorbing it, the conquered in the end conquering the conqueror.”

90. English had come royally into its own.  ----receive what properly belongs to one, esp acclaim or recognition  She didn ‘ t really come into her own until she ’ d won the election for Party leader.  With the success of the Model T Ford, the automobile industry came into its own.

91.  The English language received proper recognition and was used by the king once more.

92.  “The Elizabethans blew on it as on a dandelion clock, and its seeds multiplied, and floated to the ends of the earth.”  ---the famous writers in Elizabethan time  Eg. Shakespeare//Milton  English language----the seeds of dandelion

93. extended simile  blow on a dandelion clock – seeds multiplied – floated to the ends of the earth

94.  When was “the King’s English” regarded as a form of racial discrimination in England?  Why was the term “ Queen’s English” used in 1593 and “ the King’s English” in 1602?

95.  “The phrase has always been used a little pejoratively and even facetiously by the lower classes.”  ---disparaging, downgrading  I didn't think he is using inequality in a pejorative sense. 

96. facetious  --- comes from the French "faetie" (a jest)  ---joking esp. at an inappropriate time I became angry with that facetious boy.

97.  The phrase, the King’s English, has always been used disparagingly (disrespectfully) and jokingly by the lower classes. The working people very often make fun of the proper and formal language of the educated people.

98.  “If the King's English is "English as it should be spoken," the claim is often mocked by the underlings, when they say with a jeer "English as it should be spoke."  --- a person of low rank or position in relation to another such as a servant

99. The rebellion against a cultural dominance is still there  There still exists in the working people, as in the early Saxon peasants, a spirit of opposition to the cultural authority of the ruling class.

100. There is always a great danger, as Carlyle put it, that "words will harden into things for us."  --- Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) a Scottish essayist and historian  -- become hard or forceful

101.  There is always a great danger that we might forget that words are only symbols and take them for things they are supposed to represent.

102. but it should not be laid down as an edict, and made immune to change from below.  edict---an official public order having the force of law, which everyone must obey  lay down an edict--- to issue an order or decree (by an official authority)  immune to---exempt from or protect against (something harmful)

103. immune (to) 不受影响的  He was immune to the flattery of others people.  The American economy is proving surprisingly immune to big fluctuations in interest rate.

104. I have an unending love affair with dictionaries.  ---(metaphor)  eager interest in dictionaries -- -- having a love affair

105.  “The King's English is a model—a rich and instructive one--but it ought not to be an ultimatum.”  --- a final statement of terms made by one party or another.  Latin “ ultimatus ” (last)

106.  What is the attitude of the writer towards “ the King’s English”?

107.  Even with the most educated and the most literate, the King's English slips and slides in conversation. (metaphor)  ---to slide on a slippery surface, hence to make a mistake

108.  Even the most educated and literate people use non-standard, informal, colloquial English in their conversation.

109. Edward Morgan Foster(1879-1970) 

110.  THE DOG BENEATH THE SKIN 1935  ON THE FRONTIER 1938  JOURNEY TO A WAR 1935  NEW YEAR LETTER 1941  FOR THE TIME BEING, A CHRISTMAS ORATORIO 1945  FOR AGE OF ANXIETY 1947

111. sinister  a sinister look on his face  A rather sinister figure was walking about behind the bushes.  The things we do, the road we travel in this age---a corridor

112. we sit up at the vividness of the phrase, the force and even terror in the image.  ---(col) to make suddenly alert  Why don't you resign, that would make them sit up.

113.  “Other people may celebrate the lofty conversations in which the great minds are supposed to have indulged in the great salons of 18th century Paris,”…  --- people with great minds, distinguished eminent people  ---1) a drawing room of a private home in French-speaking countries.

114. salon --  2). art exhibition "the Salon “  3). parlor  a beauty salon  literary salon

115. saloon ---  1. a grandly furnished room for the social use of a ship's passengers ( in a hotel)  2. sedan (car) for 4 to 7 passengers  3. a large public drinking place = bar  Italian word "sala" = hall

116. Otherwise one will bind the conversation, one will not let it flow freely here and there.  ---(metaphor)  Looking up the dictionary in the middle of a conversation---a rope or band, tie up the conversation

117. “We would never have gone to Australia, or leaped back in time to the Norman Conquest.”  ---(metaphor)  Talking about Australians and language used during Norman rule in England----going to Australia and going back in time to the Norman conquest

118.  “The bother about teaching chimpanzees how to talk is that they will probably try to talk sense and so ruin all conversation.”  ----satire

119. Language features 1. the title misleading 2. the thesis 3. the transition or digression

120. Language features  4. two different kinds of language  a) colloquial expressions  b) literary and historical allusions

121. Language features  5. mixed metaphors  6. no big and abstract words  7. sentence fragments

122. Language features  conversational style  loosely organized  informal language

123. The Characteristics of conversation  Grice has suggested four conversational maxims: 1. The maxim of quantity 2. The maxim of quality 3. The maxim of relation 4. The maxim of manner ( avoid: obscurity, ambiguity, unnecessary prolixity)

124. Indulge in  音乐会后, 我们尽情享受了一顿昂贵的晚宴。  We indulge in an expensive supper after the concert.

125. To come into one’s own 直到 20 世纪中叶心理学才得到应有的重 视。 It was not until the mid-twentieth century that psychology really came into its own.

126. Be immune to The immunity to one disease does not necessarily cause a person to be immune to another. 对一种疾病免疫不一定使人对另一种疾病免疫。 他似乎 不受批 评 影响。  He seems to be immune to criticism. 他对所有的劝说都无动于衷。  He was immune to all persuasion. 

127. Sit up  乔治的突然成功使全城大的为吃惊。  George's sudden success made the town sit up.  I called her a damned hypocrite and that made her sit up.  我骂她惺惺作态，她马上警觉起来。